2010: Jim Sterk hired to replace Schemmel. Women's basketball goes to Sweet Sixteen. Football team goes to first bowl game since 1998 and wins first bowl game since 1969.

2011: Hoke leaves for Michigan and is replaced by Rocky Long. Men's basketball finishes 34-3 and goes to Sweet Sixteen for first time ever. Weber to retire effective July 5.

Susan Weber recently made a humorous observation about her husband.

Stephen Weber, the San Diego State president, is a philosopher by trade. But lately he’s become something else.

“I never thought I would say it, but my husband the philosopher has become a jock,” she said at a recent banquet.

It’s been a curious evolution of sorts for Weber, who retires after 15 years on the job in July. As he prepares to leave office, here’s a look at his impact on SDSU athletics, good and bad, culminating with possibly the best sports year in Aztecs history in 2010-11.

Student fee hikes — In 2004, SDSU students voted against raising fees to support athletics. Then in 2008, the students didn’t even get a chance to vote on whether that same fee should be raised again. But Weber still increased the fee each time because he deemed the funding critical to the future of Division I athletics at SDSU. The fee now is $350 per year, up from $30. About $10 million of SDSU’s $33 million athletics revenue now comes from student fees.

“He made some hard decisions, and he did some things that were not popular with some segments of the university,” SDSU men’s basketball coach Steve Fisher said. “He made them in what he felt was the best interest of San Diego State, and it’s benefited our athletic program.”

Questionable hires — Some questioned the administration’s judgment when SDSU hired junior college coach Tom Craft and rookie head coach Chuck Long to run the football program in 2001 and 2005, respectively. Questions arose again when Weber hired Jeff Schemmel as athletic director in 2005 despite his being linked to an academic cheating scandal at Minnesota.

All three hires ended badly. The football program languished from 2002 to 2008 under Craft and Long (combined record: 28-51).

Long and Schemmel also came to SDSU with the help of another questionable hire: famed consultant Chuck Neinas, who billed SDSU more than $65,000 for his role in hiring both. After Long fizzled out and Schemmel resigned amid scandal in 2009, Neinas never was retained again by SDSU.

Facilities — SDSU’s athletics facilities were modernized on Weber’s watch, enabling the Aztecs to better compete for recruits. Two major facilities opened about a year after he started at SDSU: Viejas Arena and Tony Gwynn Stadium in 1997. Four years later, the $20 million Aztec Athletic Center opened, thanks largely to donations from Padres chairman John Moores.

“We need the leader to be on board to make sports go at State,” SDSU booster Art Flaming said. “Weber did a good job with that.”

Oversight issues — Leadership in athletics came under fire in 2003, when several crises boiled over into the administration’s lap. In February 2003, SDSU football was put on a two-year NCAA probation for impermissible offseason practices from 1998-2001.

In May 2003, a California State University audit slammed the department for lax oversight, leading to the ouster of Athletic Director Rick Bay and three other athletics employees.

Later that year, in response to continued financial pressures facing athletics, Weber made Sally Roush, his vice president for business and financial affairs, the direct boss of the athletic director instead of himself.

“We’ve got to get our financial house in order,” Weber said then.

A spokesman said Weber wasn’t available for comment.

Basketball — Weber could be seen in the student section this past season, jumping up and down with the crowd. He had reason to celebrate. In 1999, the SDSU’s men’s basketball team finished 4-22 with almost nobody there to watch it happen. Weber and Bay then hired Fisher, whose team this year finished 34-3 with 13 of its 15 home games played in front of capacity crowds.

“He will be missed greatly by me and others,” Fisher said.

Money and grades — These are two big areas where the administration can make all the difference in athletics. Under Weber, it’s been down and up. Just three years ago, SDSU football ranked fifth-worst in the nation with its Academic Progress Rate. SDSU football since has improved to 96th out of 120 after Schemmel helped beef up academic support.

On the business side, when Weber put Roush in charge of the department in 2003, SDSU athletics was facing a $1.45 million budget deficit.

Over the next several years, some SDSU faculty became concerned with that they considered to be large university “bailouts” of around $2 million each year by Weber to balance the athletics budget. Weber largely relieved the situation by hiking student fees in 2008 to provide more revenue for the department. “The increase... is necessary to support athletic programs at SDSU,” he said then.

Commitment — Weber’s biggest mark on athletics might be that he didn’t waver in his support of the department, financially or otherwise, despite the aforementioned problems. SDSU didn’t cut sports unlike other universities facing financial pressure. Mistakes became lessons. For example, in 2008 SDSU fired the not-so-intense Chuck Long and replaced him with Mr. Tough Guy, Brady Hoke, who last year led SDSU to its first bowl victory since 1969. This past year, SDSU’s combined record in football and men’s basketball (43-7) ranked second nationally.

“The whole glue here is Steve Weber,” SDSU booster Leon Parma said. “He’s had a profound effect on our athletic program. He took an uncommon interest in the program out there, recognizing that a successful athletic program would give prominence to the university and community and would bring the student body together as it has.”